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German Mail Service Stops Using Domestic Flights to Transport Letters after Nearly 63 Years

WISAG employees load a Eurowings Airbus A320-214 bound for Stuttgart with plastic boxes full of mail, at Berlin Brandenburg Airport, in Schönefeld, Germany, Thursday, March 28, 2024. (Soeren Stache/dpa via AP)
WISAG employees load a Eurowings Airbus A320-214 bound for Stuttgart with plastic boxes full of mail, at Berlin Brandenburg Airport, in Schönefeld, Germany, Thursday, March 28, 2024. (Soeren Stache/dpa via AP)
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German Mail Service Stops Using Domestic Flights to Transport Letters after Nearly 63 Years

WISAG employees load a Eurowings Airbus A320-214 bound for Stuttgart with plastic boxes full of mail, at Berlin Brandenburg Airport, in Schönefeld, Germany, Thursday, March 28, 2024. (Soeren Stache/dpa via AP)
WISAG employees load a Eurowings Airbus A320-214 bound for Stuttgart with plastic boxes full of mail, at Berlin Brandenburg Airport, in Schönefeld, Germany, Thursday, March 28, 2024. (Soeren Stache/dpa via AP)

Germany's main national postal carrier on Thursday stopped using domestic flights to transport letters after nearly 63 years, a move that reflects the declining significance of letter mail and allows it to improve its climate footprint.
Deutsche Post said the last planes carrying letters between northern and southern Germany, operated by Lufthansa unit Eurowings and Tui Fly, flew overnight on the Stuttgart-Berlin, Hannover-Munich and Hannover-Stuttgart routes, the Associated Press said.
The company said letters between those destinations will now be transported by road, allowing the company to reduce transport-related carbon dioxide emissions on the routes by over 80%.
“In times of climate change, airmail for domestic letters within Germany can no longer be justified — also because there is no longer the same urgency associated with letter mail as in decades past,” Marc Hitschfeld, chief operations officer of parent company DHL Group's German mail and parcel division, said in a statement.
Draft legislation approved by the German Cabinet in December, which still needs parliamentary approval, is set to reduce pressure on Deutsche Post to deliver letters quickly, allowing it to cut costs.
At present, the mail service is supposed to deliver at least 80% of letters on the working day after they are mailed. Under the planned new rules, it will have to deliver 95% by the third working day.
German domestic mail flights started in September 1961. Both the volume of mail carried by air and the number of destinations served have declined drastically since the mid-1990s.

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Famed Thai Holiday Isles Suffer Water Shortages after Heatwave

The dazzling Thai islands made famous by Hollywood film "The Beach" are facing a severe water shortage following a heatwave across Asia. Mladen ANTONOV / AFP
The dazzling Thai islands made famous by Hollywood film "The Beach" are facing a severe water shortage following a heatwave across Asia. Mladen ANTONOV / AFP
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Famed Thai Holiday Isles Suffer Water Shortages after Heatwave

The dazzling Thai islands made famous by Hollywood film "The Beach" are facing a severe water shortage following a heatwave across Asia. Mladen ANTONOV / AFP
The dazzling Thai islands made famous by Hollywood film "The Beach" are facing a severe water shortage following a heatwave across Asia. Mladen ANTONOV / AFP

The dazzling Thai holiday islands made famous by Hollywood film "The Beach" are facing a severe water shortage following a blistering heatwave across Asia, a tourism official and locals said Thursday.
The Koh Phi Phi archipelago, off the west coast of southern Thailand, draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to its pristine beaches and turquoise waters each year.
But a deadly heatwave that has sent temperature records tumbling across the region in recent weeks -- as well as a prolonged spell of low rainfall -- has seen reservoirs run low.
"The private company that provides water to the islands may have to stop the supply," Wichupan Phukaoluan Srisanya, president of the Krabi Hotel Association, which represents hotels in the area, told AFP.
Island authorities have discussed shipping in water from the mainland if the dry weather continues, she said, but would hold off in the hope of the wet season arriving in May.
"But we want to assure tourists who are planning to visit the islands that we can manage this," Wichupan added.
Residents who asked not to be named told AFP they had suffered fresh water shortages for months, and said some hotels had limited bookings as a result.
And online posts by returning tourists warned travelers to "check if their accommodation has fresh water" ahead of their stay.
One wrote on review site TripAdvisor that "tap water has stopped running", as island water reservoirs had been dry since the end of April.
Scientists have long warned human-induced climate change will produce more frequent, longer and more intense heatwaves.
While the El Nino phenomenon is helping drive this year's exceptionally warm weather, Asia is also warming faster than the global average, according to the UN's World Meteorological Organization.
Local tourism operators have repeatedly called for long-term water supply investments for the Koh Phi Phi islands, which lack sufficient reservoirs and infrastructure.
In the Gulf of Thailand, Koh Samui -- another hugely popular tourist island -- has been experiencing similar dry, hot weather but the local tourism board said visitors had not been impacted.
"We have enough from a water truck, but it increases the cost of running hotels by three times more," the president of Koh Samui Tourism Association Ratchaparon Poolsawadee told AFP.
The extreme recent heat has blasted Asia, triggering heatstroke deaths, school closures and desperate prayers for cooling rain.
For around a week in April, Bangkok authorities gave daily extreme heat warnings as the heat index -- which takes into account other factors including humidity -- topped 52 degrees Celsius (125 degrees Fahrenheit).

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Imam Turki bin Abdullah Royal Nature Reserve, a Haven of Environmental Diversity

The Imam Turki bin Abdullah Royal Nature Reserve is the Kingdom's second-largest protected area. (SPA)
The Imam Turki bin Abdullah Royal Nature Reserve is the Kingdom's second-largest protected area. (SPA)
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Imam Turki bin Abdullah Royal Nature Reserve, a Haven of Environmental Diversity

The Imam Turki bin Abdullah Royal Nature Reserve is the Kingdom's second-largest protected area. (SPA)
The Imam Turki bin Abdullah Royal Nature Reserve is the Kingdom's second-largest protected area. (SPA)

Stretching across 91,500 square kilometers south of Rafha Governorate in the Northern Borders Region, the Imam Turki bin Abdullah Royal Nature Reserve is the Kingdom's second-largest protected area.
This expansive reserve boasts a variety of landscapes, including rolling grasslands, shrublands, and plains known as the "savannah." This natural landscape creates picturesque scenery and provides a habitat for diverse flora and wildlife, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Thursday.
It boasts stunning natural beauty and unique biodiversity, including species such as Arabian oryx, sand gazelles, and Arabian ostriches.
The reserve is a haven for plant life, boasting over 180 species recorded, representing 7.5% of the total plant species in the Kingdom. These include acacia, jujube, arta (Calligonum comosum), ghada (Haloxylon persicum), arfaj (Rhanterium epapposum), aather (Artemisia monosperma), and ramath (Haloxylon) trees.
The reserve's environmental diversity is a result of its vast size and varied topography. From the deep valleys to the towering mountains, from the wide plains to the basalt plateaus, the reserve's landscapes provide captivating contrast. These diverse habitats serve as vital refuge for a wide range of wildlife, including both resident and migratory species.

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SRMG Launches Second Edition of Saudi Young Lions Competition

The competition provides young and up-and-coming creators from Saudi Arabia a platform to showcase their creativity and ingenuity. SRMG
The competition provides young and up-and-coming creators from Saudi Arabia a platform to showcase their creativity and ingenuity. SRMG
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SRMG Launches Second Edition of Saudi Young Lions Competition

The competition provides young and up-and-coming creators from Saudi Arabia a platform to showcase their creativity and ingenuity. SRMG
The competition provides young and up-and-coming creators from Saudi Arabia a platform to showcase their creativity and ingenuity. SRMG

The Saudi Research and Media Group (SRMG) has launched the second edition of the Saudi Young Lions design competition.

SRMG, which is the largest integrated media group in the MENA region, publishes Asharq Al-Awsat.

An SRMG statement said Wednesday that the competition provides young and up-and-coming creators from Saudi Arabia a platform to showcase their creativity and ingenuity. It also represents a key aspect of SRMG’s transformation and growth strategy to champion the next generation of local creators and innovators.

To participate, graphic designers, illustrators and creatives aged 30 or under and currently working in Saudi Arabia’s marketing and advertising industry must register by May 13 in a team of two, the statement said.

The brief will be live on May 16 and registered participants will be given 48 hours to answer a creative brief. Entrants will be judged by a jury of leaders from renowned global advertising agencies in the region, it added.

To participate, graphic designers, illustrators and creatives aged 30 or under and currently working in Saudi Arabia’s marketing and advertising industry must register by May 13. Asharq Al-Awsat

The winners of the Saudi Young Lions will advance to compete in the prestigious Global Young Lions competition against top creative teams from around the world in Cannes, France in June. This will also provide the winning team an opportunity to network with the brightest minds in the global media industry, learn from the leading global creative directors, and attend inspiring talks and workshops.

“The future of the creative industry depends on the next generation continuing to push boundaries through thought-provoking and innovative work,” said Chief Creative Officer of SRMG Fadi Mroue.

“At SRMG, we aim to provide a platform for these young creators and storytellers to excel and think big. This is why we have prioritized empowering emerging local and regional talent by giving them the necessary tools, training and support,” he said.

“Partnering with Cannes Lions for the second edition of the Saudi Young Lions competition aligns with this goal. The success of the first edition of the Saudi Young Lions competition sets the stage for increased participation in the second year. We look forward to seeing the Saudi winners compete against the best and brightest young creators at this year’s Cannes Lions Festival in June.”

This announcement builds on SRMG’s partnership with the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. In 2023, SRMG became the official representative of Cannes Lions in Saudi Arabia. As part of this partnership, SRMG launched the first Saudi Young Lions competition and facilitated Saudi representation at the Cannes’ Creative Academy. 
The inaugural Saudi Young Lions competition attracted top rising stars and emerging talents from across the Kingdom. Reema Ibrahim and Shoug Abdullah, two young Saudi women designers and creators, made history by winning the first Saudi Young Lions. They competed at the Global Young Lions competition in Cannes, finishing in the top seven out of over 450 participants. 
In 2023, the Cannes Lions Festival also saw increased participation from the MENA region, highlighted by Hungerstation Riyadh’s ‘Subconscious Order’ campaign clinching the Grand Prix in Creative Commerce. This represented the first time Saudi Arabia won the prestigious Grand Prix, serving as another example of the growing creativity and innovation coming from the region. 
 

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44-foot Whale Carcass on Bow of Cruise Ship Baffles NY Authorities

A boat pulls a dead whale that washed ashore at a beach in Alameda, California April 22, 2024. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
A boat pulls a dead whale that washed ashore at a beach in Alameda, California April 22, 2024. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
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44-foot Whale Carcass on Bow of Cruise Ship Baffles NY Authorities

A boat pulls a dead whale that washed ashore at a beach in Alameda, California April 22, 2024. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
A boat pulls a dead whale that washed ashore at a beach in Alameda, California April 22, 2024. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Marine conservationists and government scientists are seeking clues to the mystery of how a 44-foot whale carcass ended up on the bow of a cruise liner, where it was discovered as the ship approached New York City's Port of Brooklyn over the weekend.
A necropsy, the animal equivalent of an autopsy, identified the deceased marine mammal as a mature female sei whale, an endangered species typically found in deep waters far from land, the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society said on Wednesday.
One key question is whether the whale's death came before or after its contact with the vessel, according to the non-profit organization, based in Hampton Bays, New York.
According to Reuters, an online statement posted by the society, whose team conducted the necropsy on Tuesday, said the exam revealed evidence of tissue trauma along whale's right shoulder blade region, and a right flipper fracture. The creature's gastrointestinal tract was full of food, it said.
Most of the whale's organs were sampled, along with tissue and bone, for toxicology and pathology analysis, according to the society.
"The tissue and bone samples collected will help biologists determine if the vessel interaction occurred pre or post mortem," the group said in its statement.
It said the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's law enforcement office was also investigating the incident.
The whale's corpse was carried into port on Saturday.
The conservation society said the whale was then towed to shore at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, to conduct the necropsy.
Sei whales, members of the baleen branch of cetaceans that filter-feed on plankton and krill, take their name from the Norwegian word for pollock, a fish they often run with at sea. They are known as exceptionally fast swimmers, capable of reaching speeds of more than 34 miles per hour (55kph), according to NOAA.
They dwell mostly in subtropical, temperate and subpolar seas around the world, primarily the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. In summer, they are commonly found in the Gulf of Maine and on Georges Bank and Stellwagen Bank in the western North Atlantic.

Varieties

Ice Cream Sellers Probed over Money Laundering in Germany

The three are also accused of having been members of a foreign criminal organization since December 2016. (shutterstock image)
The three are also accused of having been members of a foreign criminal organization since December 2016. (shutterstock image)
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Ice Cream Sellers Probed over Money Laundering in Germany

The three are also accused of having been members of a foreign criminal organization since December 2016. (shutterstock image)
The three are also accused of having been members of a foreign criminal organization since December 2016. (shutterstock image)

Prosecutors in Germany have charged three alleged Mafia associates on suspicion of money laundering. The men are accused of using an ice cream parlor in a sleepy German town to wash cash for Italy's 'Ndrangheta', the Germany news agency reported.

Authorities in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia on Wednesday said they had charged three men with money laundering.

The three are alleged to have used an ice cream parlor in the small town of Siegen to legitimize criminal cash for the Italian Mafia.

The prosecutor's office in Düsseldorf accuses the men, between the ages of 25 and 39, of running the parlor under the instruction of a high-ranking member of the 'Ndrangheta group in Italy's southern Calabria region.

The mafia boss allegedly invested about €400,000 ($430,000) in the parlor.

"In return, the ice cream parlor is said to have been used to launder the illegal narcotics profits of the 'Ndrangheta and also as a logistics base in North Rhine-Westphalia," the prosecutors said.

Some ice cream business's day-to-day income was allegedly transferred to other 'Ndrangheta members in Italy.

The German prosecutors say Italian authorities consider the main mafia contact to be "a leading figure in the international cocaine trade."

The three are also accused of having been members of a foreign criminal organization since December 2016.

Membership in a foreign criminal organization is punishable by a prison sentence of six months to five years in Germany. Gang and commercial money laundering is punishable by a prison sentence of six months to ten years.

Varieties

AstraZeneca Withdraws Covid Vaccine as Demand Dives

FILE PHOTO: A general view of AstraZeneca's Sydney headquarters, in Sydney, Australia, August 19, 2020. AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A general view of AstraZeneca's Sydney headquarters, in Sydney, Australia, August 19, 2020. AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts via REUTERS
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AstraZeneca Withdraws Covid Vaccine as Demand Dives

FILE PHOTO: A general view of AstraZeneca's Sydney headquarters, in Sydney, Australia, August 19, 2020. AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A general view of AstraZeneca's Sydney headquarters, in Sydney, Australia, August 19, 2020. AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts via REUTERS

Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca on Wednesday said it was withdrawing Covid vaccine Vaxzevria, one of the first produced in the deadly pandemic, citing "commercial reasons" following a slump in demand.

"As multiple, variant Covid-19 vaccines have since been developed there is a surplus of available updated vaccines. This has led to a decline in demand for Vaxzevria, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied," an AstraZeneca spokesperson added in a statement.

"We will now work with regulators and our partners to align on a clear path forward to conclude this chapter and significant contribution to the Covid-19 pandemic."

AstraZeneca rapidly developed the successful Covid-19 jab during the coronavirus pandemic which erupted in the first half of 2020.

Vaxzevria, developed alongside Oxford University, was at first offered at cost but Astra decided in late 2021 to sell it for profit.

But the world pivoted towards mRNA vaccines, particularly the one produced by US drugs giant Pfizer and German peer BioNTech, after rare blood-clot problems with Astra's jab increased public hesitancy about taking it, Reuters reported.

Sales collapsed further as global Covid restrictions were fully lifted worldwide and the world emerged from the global health crisis.

The AstraZeneca spokesperson said the group had begun the process from taking it off the market in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMA) region.

The company will work with other regulators globally to start market authorisation withdrawals for the Vaxzevria "where no future commercial demand for the vaccine is expected".

The spokesperson said that, according to independent estimates, "over 6.5 million lives were saved in the first year of use alone" and more than three billion doses were supplied globally.

"We are incredibly proud of the role Vaxzevria played in ending the global pandemic," the spokesperson said.

"Our efforts have been recognised by governments around the world and are widely regarded as being a critical component of ending the global pandemic. "

Varieties

Astronomers Finally Detect a Rocky Planet with an Atmosphere

This illustration provided by NASA in 2017 depicts the planet 55 Cancri e, right, orbiting its star. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)
This illustration provided by NASA in 2017 depicts the planet 55 Cancri e, right, orbiting its star. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)
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Astronomers Finally Detect a Rocky Planet with an Atmosphere

This illustration provided by NASA in 2017 depicts the planet 55 Cancri e, right, orbiting its star. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)
This illustration provided by NASA in 2017 depicts the planet 55 Cancri e, right, orbiting its star. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)

Astronomers have searched for years for rocky planets beyond our solar system with an atmosphere - a trait considered essential for any possibility of harboring life. Well, they finally seem to have located one. But this hellish planet - apparently with a surface of molten rock - offers no hope for habitability.

Researchers said on Wednesday the planet is a "super-Earth" - a rocky world significantly larger than our planet but smaller than Neptune - and it orbits perilously close to a star dimmer and slightly less massive than our sun, rapidly completing an orbit every 18 hours or so.

Infrared observations using two instruments aboard the James Webb Space Telescope indicated the presence of a substantial - if inhospitable - atmosphere, perhaps continuously replenished by gases released from a vast ocean of magma.

"The atmosphere is likely rich in carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide, but can also have other gases such as water vapor and sulfur dioxide. The current observations cannot pinpoint the exact atmospheric composition," said planetary scientist Renyu Hu of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech, lead author of the study published in the journal Nature.

The Webb data also did not make clear the thickness of the atmosphere. Hu said it could be as thick as Earth's or even thicker than that of Venus, whose toxic atmosphere is the densest in our solar system.

The planet, called 55 Cancri e or Janssen, is about 8.8 times more massive than Earth, with a diameter about twice that of our planet. It orbits its star at one-25th the distance between our solar system's innermost planet Mercury and the sun. As a result, its surface temperature is about 3,140 degrees Fahrenheit (1,725 degrees Celsius/2,000 degrees Kelvin).

"Indeed, this is one of the hottest-known rocky exoplanets," said astrophysicist and study co-author Brice-Olivier Demory of the University of Bern's Center for Space and Habitability in Switzerland, using the term for planets beyond our solar system. "There are likely better places for a vacation spot in our galaxy."

The planet is probably tidally locked, meaning it perpetually has the same side facing its star, much like the moon does toward Earth. The planet is located in our Milky Way galaxy about 41 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Cancer. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). Four other planets, all gas giants, are known to orbit its host star.

That star is gravitationally bound to another star in a binary system. The other one is a red dwarf, the smallest kind of ordinary star. The distance between these companions is 1,000 times the distance between Earth and the sun, and light takes six days to get from one to the other.

After all their searching, the rocky exoplanet for which scientists finally found evidence of an atmosphere turned out to be one that probably should not even have one. Being so close to its star, any atmosphere should be stripped away by stellar irradiation and winds. But gases dissolved in the vast lava ocean thought to cover the planet may keep bubbling up to replenish the atmosphere, Hu said.

"The planet cannot be habitable," Hu said, because it is too hot to have liquid water, considered a prerequisite for life.

All of the previous exoplanets found to have atmospheres were gaseous planets, not rocky ones. As Webb pushes the frontiers of exoplanet exploration, the discovery of a rocky one with an atmosphere represents progress.

On Earth, the atmosphere warms the planet, contains the oxygen people breathe, protects against solar radiation and creates the pressure needed for liquid water to remain on the planet's surface.

"On Earth, atmosphere is key for life," Demory said. "This result on 55 Cnc e entertains the hope that Webb could conduct similar investigations on planets that are much cooler than 55 Cnc e, which could support liquid water at their surface. But we are not there yet."

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Riyadh Season Signs Strategic Partnership with MMA

The agreement is part of the Riyadh Season endeavor to host and sponsor prominent international public events and making Riyadh an important location for fighting games in the world - SPA
The agreement is part of the Riyadh Season endeavor to host and sponsor prominent international public events and making Riyadh an important location for fighting games in the world - SPA
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Riyadh Season Signs Strategic Partnership with MMA

The agreement is part of the Riyadh Season endeavor to host and sponsor prominent international public events and making Riyadh an important location for fighting games in the world - SPA
The agreement is part of the Riyadh Season endeavor to host and sponsor prominent international public events and making Riyadh an important location for fighting games in the world - SPA

Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Entertainment Authority (GEA) Advisor Turki bin Abdulmohsen Al-alsheikh has announced the signing of a long-term strategic agreement between Riyadh Season and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), whereby a new Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will take place during the Riyadh Season 2024-2025.
As per the agreement, Power Slap competitions, another aspect of the UFC brand, will be launched at the event as well, and Riyadh Season will be a sponsor of the scheduled UFC fight, to be held at the Sphere in Las Vegas under the name Riyadh Season Fight, as well as organize yet another UFC fight during the 2024-2025 Riyadh Season, according to SPA.
Al-alsheikh stressed that this agreement is part of the Riyadh Season endeavor to host and sponsor prominent international public events and making Riyadh an important location for fighting games in the world, as well as to diversify the events taking place during the season, in order to gather the largest audience possible from all over the world.
Riyadh Season recently announced that UFC FIGHT NIGHT between champion Khamzat Chimaev and former champion Robert Whittaker will take place as part of the Integrated Martial Arts Championship, which will be held on June 22, 2024, at the Kingdom Arena.

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Saudi Coffee Company Licensed to Build Factory in Jazan

Photo by SPA
Photo by SPA
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Saudi Coffee Company Licensed to Build Factory in Jazan

Photo by SPA
Photo by SPA

Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu President Eng. Khalid Al-Salem handed over to the Saudi Coffee Company the license to establish the first coffee-production factory in Jazan for basic and transformational industries.
The license followed Jazan's signing a package of investment agreements and capital contracts, SPA reported.
The factory, which will extend over an area of 30,000 square meters, is designed to produce and export the finest types of Saudi coffee, and boost local and global supply chains, in line with the goals of Saudi Vision 2030. It will thus contribute to the sustainability of the coffee sector.
The Saudi Coffee Company is owned by the Public Investment Fund; it focuses on supporting the local coffee production and promoting coffee globally.
The company also plays a major role in developing sustainable agriculture in Jazan region, a major home for fine Saudi coffee, and raising the Kingdom’s ability to export the finest Saudi coffee beans to international markets.

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World’s Record-Breaking Temperature Streak Extends Through April

Caretakers control their horses as they take a dip in sea on a hot summer day in Mumbai on May 8, 2024. (AFP)
Caretakers control their horses as they take a dip in sea on a hot summer day in Mumbai on May 8, 2024. (AFP)
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World’s Record-Breaking Temperature Streak Extends Through April

Caretakers control their horses as they take a dip in sea on a hot summer day in Mumbai on May 8, 2024. (AFP)
Caretakers control their horses as they take a dip in sea on a hot summer day in Mumbai on May 8, 2024. (AFP)

The world just experienced its hottest April on record, extending an 11-month streak in which every month set a temperature record, the European Union's climate change monitoring service said on Wednesday.

Each month since June 2023 has ranked as the planet's hottest on record, compared with the corresponding month in previous years, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said in a monthly bulletin.

Including April, the world's average temperature was the highest on record for a 12-month period - 1.61 degrees Celsius above the average in the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period.

Some of the extremes - including months of record-breaking sea surface temperatures - have led scientists to investigate whether human activity has now triggered a tipping point in the climate system.

"I think many scientists have asked the question whether there could be a shift in the climate system," said Julien Nicolas, C3S Senior Climate Scientist.

Greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels are the main cause of climate change. In recent months, the natural El Nino phenomenon, which warms the surface waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean, has also raised temperatures.

Scientists have already confirmed that climate change caused some specific weather extremes in April, including a heatwave in the Sahel linked to potentially thousands of deaths.

Hayley Fowler, a climate scientist at Newcastle University, said the data showed the world is perilously close to breaching the 2015 Paris Agreement's goal to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius.

"At what point do we declare we've lost the battle to keep temperatures below 1.5? My personal opinion is we've already lost that battle, and we really need to think very seriously about keeping below 2C and reducing our emissions as fast as we can," she said.

Countries agreed the 1.5C goal at a UN climate summit in 2015. It is the level scientists say would avoid the most disastrous consequences of warming, like fatal heat, flooding and the irreversible loss of ecosystems.

Technically, the 1.5C target has not yet been missed, as it refers to an average global temperature over decades. But some scientists have said the goal can no longer realistically be met, and have urged governments to cut CO2 emissions faster to limit overshoot of the target.

C3S' dataset goes back to 1940, which the scientists cross-checked with other data to confirm that last month was the hottest April since the pre-industrial period.